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Yes, the lenten sinner beat out the lenten saint {but just this once, of course! of course} and I only regret not buying a bigger bottle because ...

the weekend weather was so delightful.

In like a lion?

More like in like a motherhating tyrant. I believe his name was Sparta ... and apparently Thor is right behind him .... joy and euphoria abound.

Julia curled up for an afternoon nap on the couch slash ... my winter sentiments exactly. {oh, is it cliche to hate on winter? please - see all my care. right there ..... }

Anyway, back to the former situation at hand.

Simon was gone in North Carolina getting his conference on {along with some pretty solid uninterrupted sleep, I'd imagine but! let's not dwell on that, baby G} and we, The Abandoned, were getting along okayish when I broke/crushed a molar into pieces someway/somehow and it needed somewhat immediate medical attention but not immediate enough that I was willing to take the kids in with me. All the laughing emojis. Luckily (!!!!!) I found a last minute sitter and snatched up a canceled dental appointment and after much and very welcome drilling and patching ... I was as good as new.

Trying to smile in my weekend widow finery but the good dentist numbed me up to my eyeballs.

Not complaining.

At all.

The kids got creative with their imaginative play after they tired of playing in the snow for 2.3 minutes. Here we have Julia teaching her dutiful pupil Theo how to pretend to "barax in the sun and get a tan at the beach!!" ...

the most charmed childhood.

And then Grace got crazy and desperate for fleeting social interaction with a population over the age of five years and it only made logical sense to hit up the fabric store on Friday night.

Fiesta.
Forever.

Or, por vida if you prefer.

I kew exactly what Sebastian was thinking before he started thinking it {"unravel all the ribbons, now"} and made the necessary intervention/yanked him away.

The kind gal cutting fabric for my {very tiny} projects refused to believe that Julia and Sebastian weren't twins and then that they were all mine {always a funny question because you know what I'd do if the kids had friends over? take them on menial Friday night errands} and then kept calling them a child army and giggling while I zipped my coat up nice and tight lest she {understandably} start in on soldier #5.

Anyway, we survived. And now I have an even greater appreciation for single parents and those with spouses that travel frequently and those with spouses who are deployed. You are better humans than I am. I didn't struggle with holding down the fort solo so much but mostly how shallow my patience reserves were and how quickly the fifth request for milk in between two diaper changes over the course of five minutes sent me into super impatient land. And then came the vicious cycle of extreme guilt followed by a new resolve to be patient and an almost immediate fail. Repeat! And although on the introverted scale I fall somewhere near "antisocial hermit" I was extremely surprised at how lonely I felt.

But, ding dong the trip is dead because Simon got home late last night. Months of stalking the 10 day forecast has paid off and I saw a 60-something predicted for next week and we are going to hit every packed playground we possible can that day.

I had the happy foresight to hire a sitter for my OB appt this morning where I was genuinely shocked to learn I hadn't gained 10 pounds since last visit {close though! very close} followed by a gloriously solo trip to Target to buy a new dish brush and maybe some creamer. Maybe.

Oh Grace, how do you do it?! I mean I'm seriously asking....I have 2 and the husband was home all weekend and I about lost my mind with those kids....I would say my patience level in this never ending winter is now in the negative numbers BUT, there's always a but, I am going to TX this week with my sister to visit my brother for 5 glorious days so by the time I get back my patience level should be back to about a 1!!!!

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor because COFFEE?! I could never. I did give up chocolate (which is a big fat sacrifice for me because I honestly eat chocolate on a daily basis) and stairs (my office is on the 5th floor of a building. But I would give up my right leg before I gave up coffee. Especially for a five day husband-less stint. You, my friend, ARE a saint.

Give up coffee? With Simon going out of town. I think you had a moment of pregnancy craziness! I took my 3 kids and hugely pregnant self to JoAnn's a few weeks back when my husband was out of town and well we wont talk about it except to say, never again! Oh and thank goodness for the snack pack of raisins that kept the baby entertained.

This times a million: "And then came the vicious cycle of extreme guilt followed by a new resolve to be patient and an almost immediate fail. Repeat!" Soooo many times I feel like I must have the least amount of patience of any mother ever. I go to bed every.single.night. resolving to be a better and more patient person in the morning. Good to know I'm not alone!

Haha! I loved all of this, and as usual was just nodding my head in agreement. I must find this creamer because it looks delish, or as delicious as a label can look. But I am glad you survived with a broken tooth (!!!!) and all.

haha can totally relate to the vicious cycle of patience/NOPATIENCEATALL. My husband was out of town all week too. We had 0.0 inches of snow here in Atlanta but preschool was cancelled 3 days anyway (reeeal shame, since my kids only go those 3 days per week). I'm having #5 tomorrow. I'll report back with my findings on what 5 under 5 is like. I imagine it will be a lot like 4, except with more noise and poop? I'll let ya know.

This single lady likes to hit up craft stores on Friday nights as well... and if I ran into you and your kids, I'd smile and wave at them, not giggle about they can't *possibly* all be yours like fabric-cutter-needs-to-shut-her-mouth lady. :)

So glad you picked up the coffee and chocolate! My husband travels, and I already know well in advance that my Lent is me giving myself to graciousness and patience and that taking anything else away (like coffee!) will for sure make me fall from Lenten graces. Glad Simon is back and good weather is on your horizon!

I seriously give you all the fist bump emojis for staying home alone that long during this blasted winter. I get itchy after a single day cooped up with my two. And coffee is my one true love, so I don't really know how you gave it up for even a bit! And I'm loving all your family's knit hats!

My sister told us (her family) last week that she's pregnant with numero 4. I was thrilled and surprised and happy for her. My parents are not happy. They were saying weird things like 'I worry about them not having proper shoes' and 'is she ever going to stop??' and being unkind and hurtful. Her eldest is 7 this week, so they're pretty close but I immediately began to think of you. You are a survivor, often solo parenting, and you.are.still.alive. They're acting like she's going to die. I understand in some ways, she doesn't get much (any?) time to herself, her children are some of the most time-intensive-requirers (i.e. needy) that I've ever known. But still! She's gonna be ok! I think 4 kids is better than 3 anyways, and I understand that she wants to get it 'over with' apparently. It really hurt me that my parents were being so unsupportive toward her-whilst at the same time saying it's because they love and care about her so much. Send her out a little prayer of strength and peace. It just made me wish I lived in the same city as her!

My sister and then my family had exactly the same reactions when we announced that #4 was coming. I didn't want to tell them at all and there was dead silence at the Thanksgiving table when we did. On her behalf, thank you for being excited for her and keep telling her that. It makes a big difference on those days when we question our sanity for having any kids at all, let alone four. My oldest is nearly five and they all, for various reasons, have high levels of neediness so that encouragement is so important. The best support that my now out of town sister can give me is to be just as excited, sympathetic, and interested in this baby as she was in the others. I know that he is a special little person and it helps when someone else shows me that they think so too.

When you mentioned in a post forever ago about coffee creamer flavors, I had just discovered the Mexican Chocolate one! and was going to tell you it was THE best. but I never did. and then you put a big ol pic of it up! hahaha!

I get giving up chocolate for lent. But coffee?? Not possible. And having been that person with a traveling husband and then a deployed husband, I feel you on the impatience levels! Although I actually think it's easier when it's a long-term deployment. You don't have the impatient desperation for the week or weekend to be over, because it's so far in the future. You just get into survival mode and soldier on (pun intended..!)

What is with children and repeat requests for milk (in our house, it's chocolate milk because the boy needs the calories, but same concept!!)??? What about 'just wait while I change this diaper/feed the baby/finish going to the bathroom/stop the baby from choking to death' does he not understand????? Drives me nuts. Doesn't help that our oldest is definitely a one-tracker - once he gets something in his mind, he focuses on it until he achieves it.

Wow, I hear ya! And only because these winter days are feeling like unending days without a tag-team of relief...not even the real thing you made it through! That's why I didn't give up chocolate or wine...

Hi Grace, This is totally unrelated to your post but . . . I notice the shag rug in your living room. I want one so bad for my living room but I've read they're a bad choice with little kids in the house. What would you recommend?

Can I just say how much I love that your blog is the most wonderful, supportive place for ALL moms to be? (Nice, mean, patient, NOT PATIENT!, healthy eating, indulging (Yum, YUM we've all gotta cheat some of the time!), breast feeding, formula feeding, 1 kid, 10 kids, working, staying at home, all of it...everyone is all like, YUP - we're in this together!) You inspire that. Because you, my online-one-sided-relationship friend are honest and real. Thank you for this corner of the internets.

Ugh, I can't even imagine my husband being gone for five days. He usually leaves for 3-4 days at a time, and that is long enough for me. I'm about as introverted as you can get, but when he's out of town I always go shopping. I guess I just need to get out of the house, even if I don't talk to anyone.

I hope you love the sunshine and warm winters once you move. I'm not a fan of the cold either, especially when you have to get everyone bundled up. ;)

So I have five (well #6 isn't showing yet) and I get the "are they all yours" seriously every time we go out without the husband. Why would people think I'm crazy enough to bring other people's children with me grocery shopping- I really want to get that printed in a t-shirt!